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I 



A VIEW OF THE BAY FROM HUDSON PARK 



Today and Yesterday 
in New Rochelle 



BY 

GAYLORD JOEL PETTIT 




NEW YORK 

WILLIAM R. JENKINS COMPANY 

SIXTH AVENUE at FORTY-EIGHTH STREET 



/\/^rv— r:^ 



Copyright, 1913 by 
GAYLORD JOEL PETTIT 



Press of 

WILLIAM R. JENKINS COMPANY 

Sixth Avenue at 48th Street 

New York 



If. 



©Ci.A350i87 



My sincere thanks are due 

Charles F. Canedy, D.D. 

ReVj James F. Drisgoll 

Robert G. McGregor, D.D. 

Albert Leonard, Ph.D. 

and 

Henry M. Lester 

for their kind words of encouragement, and 

their assistance in procuring suitable 

illustrations for this work. 

Author. 



FOREWORD. 



It is hoped that this little volume of essays 
will tend to draw the thoughts of those who 
read them, to some things that are higher and 
nobler than the material things about which 
so many spend their time to-day. 

To thoughts of Love and Sympathy, and 
to the contemplation of Beauty, whether we 
see the shimmer of her hair in the gold-dust 
of the sunbeams, or the blue of her eyes in the 
sky, or the ruby of her lips in the sunset, or the 
whiteness of her hand in the fleecy clouds, for, 
after all, of these things is the "Joy o^ Life." 
GAYLORD JOEL PETTIT. 

New Rochelle, New York, 
April 15, 1913. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter 

I. Facts Regarding Gen. Washington 

II. North Avenue Presbyterian Church 

III. St. John's Methodist Episcopal 
Church ...... 

IV. St. Paul's Episcopal Church 
V. Stray Thoughts of Echo Bay 

VI. First Presbyterian Church 

VII. The High School . . . 

VIII. Salem Baptist Church . . 

IX. The Blessed Sacrament Church 

X. The Church of St. Gabriel 

XI. Masonic Temple . . . 

XII. Autumn in Hudson Park 

XIII. Trinity Church . . . 

XIV. Reveries at the Bay 
XV. Music ..... 

XVI. Gifts at Christmas . . 

XVII. Joseph and his Brethren 

XVIII. Youth and Beauty . . 

XIX. Easter Thoughts . . 

XX. Tom Paine .... 



Page 
1 

7 

13 
17 
21 
25 
31 
37 
43 
49 
53 
59 
63 
67 
73 
79 
85 
91 
99 
103 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

View of Bay from Hudson Park 

{Frontispiece) 

North Avenue Presbyterian Church 

The High School 

The Church of St. Gabriels 

Trinity Church 

Bonnefoi Point 

Tom Paine's House 



TODAY AND YESTERDAY 
IN NEW ROCHELLE 



FACTS REGARDING GENERAL 
WASHINGTON. 

I will not tell a lie, neither would Uncle 
George, but he really couldn't. I can, but 
I won't. Uncle George came to New Rochelle 
because he wanted to. He landed on Long 
Island first, but the mosquitoes were very 
thick there, and constantly annoying him, 
the ground was low and marshy and the fogs 
were so thick and heavy that the soldiers of 
the American army cut slices of them to fry 
with the bacon they had for breakfast. In 
fact the slices of fog were sometimes all 
they had to fry for breakfast. The aforesaid 
mosquitoes were armed with sharp bills and 
they were of a peculiar color, so peculiar that 
they were often called "redcoats." Taking all 



2 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

these facts into consideration, Uncle George 
made up his mind to leave the vicinity, and 
so he crossed over the East river, one foggy 
night, with his entire army, neglecting to in- 
form the "red coats" of his change of locality. 
The isle of Manhattan also proved to be 
unhealthy at that time, and calling to mind 
the fact that the prices of the necessaries of 
life were lower in the country, and knowing 
that his old friend, Abe Sicard, had a house 
above the Harlem river, he, after having had 
"a hot time in New York," came to New 
Rochelle. Now Abe's house was small and 
Uncle George was large, consequently he 
passed most of his time outdoors under the 
trees. His stay, however, was but short, for 
he had urgent business to transact at White 
Plains. So much by way of history. The old 
house occupied by the Father of his Country 
still stands, but it is not in good repair. In- 
stead of fixing up the place and making it hal- 
lowed ground, instead of being able to put up 
signs saying "Keep off the grass," we can only 
put up signs saying Jonathan Lightening, 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 3 

Electrician and Hiram Biffler, Contractor and 
Builder. Where the Father of the Country 
sat and softly swore at the dust kicked up by 
the horses as they marched past, I sat and 
loudly complained at the dust swirled up by 
the automobiles as they went by every 10 
seconds at the rate of 3 miles a minute. In 
Newburgh-on-the-Hudson a great many pains 
are taken to keep Washington's Headquar- 
ters in repair, while in New Rochelle, it gives 
travellers a great many pains to see how the 
Headquarters are allowed to silently fall to 
min. How those walls could talk if they had 
the power of speech. They would tell of cold 
and hunger endured by the soldiers, of rain 
and fog, of midnight councils and fireless 
cooks, instead of fireless cookers, of ill trained 
soldiers and masterly retreats. Oh, nobody 
worked like Father George to keep the army 
together and to save the Country. And yet, we 
who ought to be glad to do what little we can 
to beautify the ground made sacred by the 
tread of these great ones of the revolution, 
v;e have forgotten. 



4 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

No, not forgotten, but neglected, to do that 
which we ought. "Lest we forget." Ah, Rud- 
yard, what happy chance caused those words 
to flow from thy pen ! I love to see old land- 
marks kept in mind. In these days of hurry 
and worry, of dollars and dubbs, we are apt 
to forget Washington, Irving, Paine and Jef- 
ferson, and the other worthies who made 
living in this great country possible for us. 
The hills and dales of Westchester county 
have echoed and re-echoed the footsteps of 
great men of the 18th century, and grate men 
men of the 20th century. While the footsteps 
of the red man did not give rise to a great 
many echoes, as he carried his belt of wam- 
pum over the King's Highway, the sputter 
of the cut out on the gasolene push wagon 
echoes and re-echoes until the sound is car- 
ried across the Sound, and T. R. moves un- 
easily in his sleep and dreams of the steam 
roller. The world does really need more 
kindness, as our friend Hubbard says, but it 
also needs more sentiment. Let us pause 
occasionally and look back to the time when 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 5 

great men lived here, whose courage was 
undoubted and whose lives were offered up as 
living sacrifices upon the altars of their coun- 
try. When men thought more of honor than 
of money and women thought more of virtue 
than of votes. 



II 



NORTH AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH. 

It is a fact that beauty is a great asset. It 
is so much so, that it is a duty incumbent 
upon us to make ourselves attractive in a 
reasonable way. It is a duty of womankind, 
especially, to employ all the legitimate means 
possible, to make themselves pleasing to the 
eye; and if this is so, how much more is it 
incumbent upon us to beautify the surround- 
ings of those places where we gather on the 
Sabbath Day, to listen to the teachings of 
that most beautiful collection of literary jew- 
els, "The Gospel of Christ." 

Happy, indeed, are the people who possess 
a church both beautiful in form and beauti- 
ful in surroundings ; but thrice blessed are 
they when the atmosphere of love surrounds 
and envelops all. 



8 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

The word "Welcome" on a church door 
produces the same effect upon the passing 
stranger, that the sign of the American con- 
sul does when he sees it in a foreign coun- 
try. 

It quickens his heart beats and he hastens to 
enter, for there he feels he can get news of 
home; he can tell his troubles and, if neces- 
sary, receive assistance. 

And so, let us pass the portals of the church 
of John Calvin, hoping that we may be 
cheered and refreshed by so doing. John 
Calvin we are told was a stern man, yet, let 
us hope that under that outer shell he was as 
kindly as those men of Scottish blood who 
took up and followed his teachings for so 
many, many years. They, too, were often 
austere and forbidding in appearance; still, 
under the crust, so to speak, their hearts 
throbbed warm and tender. And so, as we 
sit in the pews waiting for the services to 
begin, a hush falls upon us all, a feeling of 
awe, a feeling of expectancy, a feeling as if 
we should do as Moses did, "put off our 



IN NEW ROCHELLE ^ 

shoes from our feet, for the place in which 
we are seems holy." We feel as if almost at 
any moment we might hear the rush of wings, 
and when the quiet tones of the organ begin 
to steal through our senses we realize, in- 
deed, that the Spirit of God is here. And 
somehow, as I sit and listen, the Spirit of him 
who wrote, 'The Cotter's Saturday Night," 
seems to come and sit beside me, and I feel 
as though the minister should begin the ser- 
vice by saying, **Let us worship God." And 
then when the music dies upon the air and 
the sermon begins, the Spirit beside me seems 
to warm and brighten the atmosphere around 
us, and the same kindly sympathy that made 
its home in the heart of Burns, seems to per- 
vade and take possession of the hearts of all 
the congregation. 

It is not at all infrequent either, to observe in 
the sermon a sparkle of humor like that with 
which Robert Burns was blessed; and when 
at the time of one of those sentences in lighter 
vein, I see a tiny spider on the pew in front 
of me I almost expect the unforseen com- 



10 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

panion beside me to say, "Ha! whare ye 
gaun ye crawlin' ferlie?" Burns was, and is 
yet loved by the Scottish people, mostly, be- 
cause he was very human, and because each 
of his admirers knew that he was cut from the 
same kind of cloth they were, although, per- 
haps, from a coarser weave than some. 

The same fibres run through us all and 
though we try to gloss over our natural tastes 
and desires, it is only a mere gloss after all, 
so "Gently scan your brother man." No great 
blame can be attached to the memory of the 
man who wrote, "The Mountain Daisy," and 
as Time goes on we appreciate more and more 
the tender nature of the poet. Sorrow was 
often the companion of Burns and we know 
that after the acuteness of grief has passed, 
sorrow sometimes leaves a sweetness that 
pleasure cannot give, and that sweetness Rob- 
ert Burns had. 

And so as the spirit of the beloved poet and 
I sit and listen to the words, "Lay not up 
your treasures upon earth," I resolve to live 
better and to do better and to lay up, not 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 11 

gold and silver, but love, kindness, sympathy, 
and pity, that they may be my treasures in 
a world where moth and rust do not corrupt. 
And as I think how many, many times I have 
failed *'to make good," as the modern phrase 
goes, the spirit beside me whispers, 
"Who made the heart 'tis He alone 
Decidedly can try us," 
and as I listen to the closing words of the 
sermon I know that the speaker thinks as I 
do, that the "Greatest Thing in the World is 
Love," and that its home is not in the head, 
but in the heart of man. Thousands of years 
ago one of the wise men of the East knew he 
was right when he said, "Keep well thy heart 
above all that thou guardest for out of it are 
the issues of life." 



Ill 

SAINT JOHN'S METHODIST EPISCO- 
PAL CHURCH. 

St. John's Church certainly produces a re- 
markable effect upon the passer by. As you 
go eastward upon Main street it bursts sud- 
denly upon the view from behind some other 
tall buildings and it seems to say from its 
commanding position, "Attention, friend, go 
quietly, here is a Church of God!" The beauty 
of its architecture and the peculiar color of 
the material of which it is built, both add to 
the harmony of the scene, and especially in 
the summer when the lawn is so green and 
the trees around it are in full leaf. The un- 
broken harmony of the whole would agree 
well, no doubt, with the artistic ideas of one 
of the great founders of the M. E. Church. 
When I was a small boy my father, although 
not at that time a member of any church, 

13 



14 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

insisted upon the whole family going regu- 
larly to Divine worship, and the fact that his 
parents were regular attendants at the M. E. 
Church influenced him to select that church 
as the object of our Sunday journeys. There 
were four of us boys in the family, and it was 
generally arranged for a boy to enter the pew 
first, then mother, next two more boys, then 
father, and lastly, the other boy. It was a 
matter of considerable rivalry as to which one 
should sit at the end of the pew, and I have 
been told that the neighboring pew-holders 
were never at a loss for amusement no matter 
how dry the sermon. 

That which impresses me most, in this 
church, is its active militantism. There is 
that spirit of triumphant enthusiasm which 
admits of no doubt, no hesitancy, no opposi- 
tion. You are going to be saved, if you are 
willing, all right; if not, you are going to be 
anyway. Those of you who have read that 
good old book, "The Circuit Rider," will 
understand what I mean. Charles Wesley was 
a noted musician and the religion he insti- 



IN NEW ROCHELLE IS 

tuted is, perhaps, like his music a living, 
breathing composition of warm throbbing 
human feeling, capable of overcoming all ob- 
stacles around it. 

His church impresses one as a place where 
warm, active, throbbing life can find its oppor- 
tunity to lift its attendants to higher planes, 
to carry them, may be in spite of themselves, 
to heights of Love and Beauty. 

A warm heart, a poetic spirit and a beauti- 
ful sense of music were natural to Charles Wes- 
ley, and this his church should never forget. 
Music is the rose in the garden of the soul. 
Like that beautiful flower it buds and blos- 
soms and blossoming lays its heart bare to its 
beloved. Its perfume rises, rises, always rises, 
until, like a cloud of incense, it floats about 
the feet of the Creator of Love and Beauty. 
So in the M. E. Church the soul of Charles 
Wesley, the poet, the musician, shall carry 
ever onward, ever upward, the church that was 
brought into being by him. Like a billow of 
beautiful music, it shall go rolling onward 
and upward until it shall burst upon the shore 



16 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

of Eternity at the feet of the Great Creator. 
Those who love music possess a greater deli- 
cacy, a more subtle refinement and a truer 
sense of harmony than those who do not. God 
pity those who do not understand it at all. 

In a quiet churchyard in this State, lie the 
bodies of my paternal grandfather and grand- 
mother, my father and mother and one 
brother. With patience they await the time 
when the other boys shall join them in their 
earthly resting place. The sun warms the 
earth above them and in the summertime the 
green grass forms their coverlid. The happy 
birds make music in the trees around therri 
and the blue sky forms their poetic canopy. 
There they await the rewards due to long 
lives of loving work in the church of their 
choice ; a church of orderliness, of method and 
of live works. May God in his great mercy 
bless their spirits and ever look with loving 
care upon the church which meant so much to 
them. 



IV 

ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

A good many of the residents of New 
Rochelle do not know just where this church 
is located, and a good many who have heard 
of its location do not know just how to find 
it. To such, I will point out the way. 

Most people in the city know where the 
beautiful Mayflower school house is, at the 
corner of North avenue and Mayflower ave- 
nue. The "Mayflower," like a great castle, 
stands facing North avenue, guarded, in front 
by four great maple trees. Three of the trees 
are arranged like a troop of soldiers in 
echelon, facing North avenue, their captain, 
the fourth tree, standing in front of them. 
Across the street from the south end of the 
school building embowered in the verdure of 
many trees, like a diamond set with emeralds, 
and nearly out of sight from North avenue, 
is St. Paul's Church. 



17 



18 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

It is certain that the size of a man does not 
always count in proportion to his achieve- 
ments, for oftentimes men, who are small and 
mean in appearance, accomplish great results. 
I am particularly reminded of this when I 
attend church at St. Paul's, for Paul himself 
was said to have been small in stature, afflicted 
with some physical deformity, and not pleas- 
ant to look at from the standpoint of beauty. 
No man, however, has accomplished more 
than St. Paul and many great churches have 
been built to his name. Tender and sympa- 
thetic, he yet would brook no interference 
with his religious teachings, and we all feel 
that his judgment was perfect. Many great 
and lasting results are due to small begin- 
nings and I have no doubt that a great parish 
will be built up around the St. Paul's Church 
to be, in New Rochelle, for a high and lofty 
eminence has been acquired upon which a 
beautiful edifice is shortly to be built just 
south of the present church. 

I sometimes think it would be better to 
build churches in the valleys rather than on 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 19 

high hills, for it is sometimes hard for sin- 
ners to climb up hill, but it is easy for them 
to go down hill, and if any member of a 
household should not feel like exerting him- 
self to go to church, he would only have to 
travel to the edge of the valley and roll to 
the bottom. A good hard push from some 
interested party might often add to the 
attendance at church. It would be easier to 
get to church and harder to get away from it. 

But seriously, we all feel better for going 
to church. Religions may change, but the 
God's do not and it never hurts anyone to be 
told to do right, even if they do not follow 
the teaching. Pure air leads to pure bodies, 
and pure bodies to pure minds, and with a 
great and beautiful church on the top of the 
mountain with a wise and gentle shepherd for 
the flock, "a church whose windows are open 
to the west, towards Jerusalem," it is beyond 
all question, in this instance, that great results 
will follow small beginnings. 

If we only have faith not only shall moun- 



20 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

tains be moved to the sea, but great churches 
shall appear on the tops of the mountains. 

St. Paul, you remember, had a great deal to 
say about faith, hope and charity. But what 
is faith ? It is a loving trust in the Father of 
all mankind like the trust of a little child in 
the goodness of its earthly father. And hope ? 
Hope is that Divine spark which carries us 
ever onward and upward to the end of life, 
doubting not that all will sometime, somehow, 
somewhere, be well. And charity? Ah, 
charity is the pity and sympathy one soul has 
for another in the Battle of Life. Charity is 
kindness and suffereth long. "Faith, Hope 
and Charity these three, but the greatest of 
these is Charity." , 



STRAY THOUGHTS OF ECHO BAY. 

An echo is something which comes back 
to us from other shores, is it not? And 
thoughts, are they not mental echoes that 
come back to us from other worlds, enlarged 
and beautified? So as I sit on the shore 
of Echo Bay, with its two portals which we 
may call Love and Beauty, through which 
pass out to other climes and other shores 
those who sail out into the Great Future, 
many thoughts come to me. Long, long ago, 
one of my ancestors went out through the 
open door of Echo Bay never to return. He 
was one of these hardy mariners "who go 
down to the sea in ships," but the sea, never 
satisfied, always craving new victims, swal- 
lowed him up and his wife and child never 
heard of him again. 

What a great picture could be painted of 

21 



22 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

Echo Bay with its blue waters and rocky 
shores, its green lawns and shady trees. But 
where is the artist that can do it justice? 
Hour after hour I can sit and watch the white 
sails flit out and in and in and out. The 
white sails and the blue water. The white 
the symbol of Purity and the blue the symbol 
of Truth. And how graceful the sails skim 
out and in and in and out, while I sit just 
within the portals of the harbor door and 
watch the larger boats pass by, going to and 
from the great city just a little farther on. 
And I wonder where those are from that are 
going to that city, and to where those are 
going that are coming from it, and what they 
all carry, and how goes it with their human 
freight. Some are travelling towards happi- 
ness and some towards sorrow. Some are in 
danger and some in fear; and all the time I 
am thinking these thoughts, the white sails 
flit in and out, out and in between the portals. 
And the white clouds sail across the blue sky 
just as the white sails skim over the blue 
water. 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 23 

The portals, Love and Beauty, bar none, but 
welcome all who come, giving freely of their 
care and protection. And as I think of the 
beauty of the scene, I am carried upward, in 
thought, to the portals of that greater harbor 
of the unseen world. To the blue and the 
white, the true and the pure, and I see, in 
spirit, the souls flitting to their eternal harbor. 
Some have passed through sorrow and some 
through shame; some have fought and won 
and some have been beaten in the Battle of 
Life. Yet all come. Some are only tiny little 
craft who have sailed only a little way ; others 
have come from far, after long and stormy 
voyages. Some have lost the whiteness of the 
sails they started out with, yet all come to 
have the Great Captain judge of their seaman- 
ship. Beautiful Echo Bay ! Does she not give 
all who enter a chance to refit? A chance to 
put on new spars and new ropes ? A chance to 
bend new white sails where old ones are torn 
and soiled? And can they not cover up the 
scars on the hulls with fresh white paint? 
And the Great Captain! Will He not allow 



24 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

his wayward and tempest-tossed children to 
refit and be dressed again in the white of 
Purity and the blue of Truth ? 

But my thoughts again return to material 
things and I see the white sails still flitting 
in and out and out and in. But while I gaze 
and think these rambling thoughts, the warder 
hauls down the flag, the sun sinks slowly 
behind the trees and from far across the water 
comes the boom of the sunset gun at Fort 
Slocum. 

The blue and the white of Earth and sky 
fade away, and though Beauty is lost in the 
dusk of evening, Love lights the lamps of the 
harbor and prepares to watch through the 
night over the bobbing boats, just as the 
Great Captain lights the lamps in the sky and 
watches over his restless human souls. 



VI 

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

It is strange how many excuses can be made 
for not going to church, especially in warm 
weather. We often hear some one say, "Oh, 
I'm too tired to go to church this morning," 
or, "This is the only morning I can sleep as 
long as I want to," or, "I was up late last 
night and I have not had enough sleep," or, 
"It will be so hot in church to-day," or, "I 
want to go to Rye Beach." How easy it is 
to think these things, or to say them, or to 
manufacture some other flimsy pretext. Never 
yet have I overcome any of them without be- 
ing glad of it. Never yet have I gone to 
church without feeling better for it. I enjoy 
hearing a good sermon and I love to hear good 
music. Maybe I am predestined to go to 
church, even if I am not predestined to go 
where churches are no more needed. So when 

25 



26 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

a few friends and myself went to the "First 
Church," as it is sometimes spoken of, we 
were richly rewarded for going. 

The First Presbyterian Church stands al- 
most covered with ivy, at the "parting of the 
ways." To the right, as you stand facing 
the church, is Main street, the direct road. 
To the left Huguenot street somewhat deviat- 
ing in its direction. And as the church stands 
at the fork of the earthly roads, so stands con- 
science at the parting of the ways of Life, 
pointing out the direct and indirect paths 
which lead to another existence. As on the 
streets of our beautiful city mistakes are made 
in choosing the way, so in the "Journey of 
Life" some take the wrong road. It may be 
owing to the darkness of the night, it may be 
that the ear does not hear the directions 
aright ; it may be there is too much haste, or, 
what are thought to be unsurmountable ob- 
stacles, are in the way. But whatever the rea- 
son I am loath to believe that any, who do 
go the wrong way, do so deliberately. I do 
not believe that any, knowing of the pitfalls 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 27 

existing there, intentionally choose the wrong 
way. We mistake the signals, we fail to see 
or hear aright, but we do not willingly choose 
the wrong way, knowing the rough places 
which abound in it. 

So here stands this picturesque old church, 
covered with ivy, at the "parting of the ways," 
and the ivy clings lovingly and tenderly to 
its mate, covering up the stains of Time, filling 
up depressions and smoothing over rough 
spots, and trying, in its modest way, to shelter 
and protect its partner from the rude winds 
and severe storms that sometimes threaten it. 
So very much like a tender, faithful wife, 
clinging to her coarser husband through all 
the storms of life, and though depending upon 
him for support and the ability to stand up- 
right, yet striving to shield him from the 
little worries and irritations of life and the 
rude assaults of his enemies, for she, if he 
falls, must go down with him. And if his ruin 
is complete, yet she covers up the ruins with 
the mantle of charity, just as the ivy with its 
leaves of green covers over the ruins of the 



28 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

material building when the storms have done 
their worst. And as the ivy clings to the 
"First Church," so its congregation clings to 
the Redeemer. Through storms and sunshine, 
through evil and good report, still the mem- 
bers hold to their faith. 1688—1788—1888— 
1912 still they are found at their post. Is it 
not a proud record? And yet there is a note 
of sadness in this chord of exultation, for the 
people and their pastor have also arrived at 
the "parting of the ways." The outcome rests 
with Him who has watched over their united 
efforts for so many years. Though the bless- 
ings of God may be divided, yet we feel that 
each is predestined to receive a share. 

I love to think that we are all predestined 
to come at last to a place where we shall be 
happy. We may be predestined to trouble as 
long as we travel in the wrong road, but if 
we sometime get on the right path, will 
we not then be predestined to happiness ? Just 
as Main street and Huguenot street separate 
where the church stands, and one goes direct 
while the other rambles a bit, yet it comes 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 29 

back after a while to the straight way. So he 
who picks out the wrong road travels farther 
than the one who picks out the right one, 
and he travels over a rougher road, yet he, 
too, after much tribulation may come at last 
to the same place, purified and chastened by 
sorrow. It is better to travel on the right 
road. It is better to walk the straight and 
narrow path than to ramble along over rough 
roads where tender feet may be bruised and 
where loving hearts may be broken. It is 
better, is it not, to listen to the voice of con- 
science and be good and true, than to do 
wrong and be untrue to ourselves and others. 
And so the congregation of this ivy covered 
church, and its pastor, and I, put our trust 
in the wisdom of the sentence upon the glass 
in a window of the church, "I have yet to see 
the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging 
bread." 



VII 

THE HIGH SCHOOL. 

Do you know, it is a fact that some people 
impress me as being larger than they really 
are, and there are some who impress me as 
being smaller than they really are. Also I am 
sure, that this peculiarity is not confined to 
people alone, for there are certain buildings 
which do the same thing. 

The High School building always looks 
higher and wider to me than it really is, per- 
haps owing to the style of architecture. It 
is an edifice of which we all should be very 
proud, for does it not belong to us all ? Every 
one of the residents of this city should draw 
from it more or less knowledge and inspira- 
tion, either directly or indirectly. And as I 
stand and look at it, a vision of the teachings 
of 2,000 years ago comes to me, and I seem 
to see a little man of shabby appearance, toil- 

31 



32 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

ing painfully along the road leading from the 
Piraeus to Athens. On every side he sees 
signs of profound learning and many temples 
for the worship of the Gods, even to an altar 
erected for the worship of "The Unknown 
God." And as he nears the great city, there 
stands ever in view and gradually appearing 
greater a hill, upon which glistens in the sun- 
light, the Acropolis. 

Then the vision fades away, and I notice 
how our High School building suggests the 
thought of that great piece of work, with its 
flight of steps and its great pillars. And we 
have placed above our building the eagle, that 
noble bird emblematical of freedom of living 
and freedom of thought. The eagle stands 
with wings partly spread, alert and expectant, 
in the attitude a young man might take when 
some great and overpowering thought burst 
suddenly on his mind. And as I gaze, again 
the vision comes, and I see a great teacher sit- 
ting on the porch of the Acropolis with his 
listeners, men of all ages, sitting at his feet 
upon the steps below him, and drinking greed- 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 23 

ily in the ideas he imparts to them, most of 
which he has learned in the hard school of ex- 
perience. 

And as I listen I seem to hear him say, 
''Knowledge is power, and with it almost any- 
thing can be done. We must have knowledge 
in order to get our living, and the main pur- 
pose of all learning is to teach us how to get 
the necessaries of life honestly, that we may 
eat, and drink, and be clothed. And sec- 
ondarily we need it to teach us how to use 
these things for our best advantage, that we 
may be happy and propagate our species. 

But first we must lay a foundation, and the 
greatest foundation for all knowledge is 
knowledge of self. Know thyself. Be sure 
to be honest with yourself and then do not 
try to be false to any one. If, then, you ap- 
pear greater than you really are, it is your 
fortune ; if you appear smaller than you really 
are, it is only your misfortune. Yet, beware, 
lest knowledge seduce you into believing that 
it is of more account than it really is, for over 
some things knowledge has no power. Some- 



34 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

times the more of it you have, the more trouble 
you will have, and it has been said that "Much 
knowledge is a weariness of the flesh." We 
have many institutions of learning and many 
beautiful temples in which to worship the 
Gods." 

And then, as the teacher ceased, the trav- 
eller who had entered the group some time 
before, and who had been quietly listening, 
arose and as he arose he seemed to be much 
larger than he really was, and a peculiar 
brightness seemed to shine forth from his 
face as he said, "But teacher, 'God dwelleth 
not in temples made with hands.' It may be 
well for us to have a certain amount of learn- 
ing, but knowledge alone is cold, and as for 
material things "Seek ye first the kingdom of 
God and then all these shall be added unto 
you." To knowledge of self, and its wants, 
must be added knowledge of the wants of 
others, and to cold learning must be added 
warm, vivifying love, for over love knowl- 
edge has no power, and love really rules the 
world. Knowledge alone cannot satisfy the 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 35 

cravings of the human heart, it may poison 
the soul, and it may bring to the hemlock its 
most devoted followers, even yourself. Love 
alone has power to save." 

Again the vision fades and I see before me 
only the handsome structure called the High 
School. I am glad, very glad we have such a 
building and such a school. There, may all 
the branches of justice be taught to our chil- 
dren, at the same time teaching them that 
Mercy is greater than Law. Let us teach them 
all schools of medicine, but let it be known that 
it is Nature that does the healing. Let us 
teach them the theology of all denominations, 
remembering that the heart of theology is 
Christianity. Let them be taught all the ways 
of commerce, but warn them that God rules 
the wind and the waves and that, "In Him 
we live, and move, and have our being." 



VIII 

SALEM BAPTIST CHURCH. 

One Sunday, not so very long ago, a few of 
us congenial spirits decided to attend Divine 
Worship at the Salem Baptist Church, and as 
we walked along Main street we came to the 
corner where the church stands waiting. 

I say waiting, because it seems to be so very 
inviting. It is not alone the beauty of its 
architecture, but the convenience of its plan 
as well, that is noticeable. The steps come 
right down to the angle of the sidewalk as 
if to meet you and the Spirit of the Church 
seems to say, "Come right in, you see we 
have brought the steps down where it will be 
easy for you to enter. Our church has been 
built with a view to your comfort and ease. 
Come in and let us show you a pew." 

Sure enough we were shown some good 
seats and I know I gave a sigh of content- 

37 



38 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

ment, for the seat and the cushion seemed to 
be just right and I leaned back with consid- 
erable satisfaction while I listened to the sweet 
strains of the organ. The sermon was about 
shellfishness, or selfishness, much the same 
thing, in a way, and it rubbed a little on my 
conscience here and there, but I shall probably 
not remember that part of it very long, more's 
the pity. Surely St. John the Baptist was a 
great genius. He was so occupied with the 
seriousness of his work that he let his hair and 
beard grow long and neglected some other 
arts so dear to the privileged classes. But he 
knew that to see any particular political or 
religious situation clearly, it is necessary to 
withdraw from its immediate vicinity and go 
to a distance, where there is solitude and 
silence. So he went to the Great Silence of 
the desert where the sun shows its terrific 
power by day and the moon and stars their 
great beauty by night. There his mind was 
freed of all other thoughts that the ideas of 
the Great Intelligence might come and dwell 
with him. There are some men of genius who 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 39 

tower head and shoulders above their fellow- 
men, who tower above all man made laws, 
who look only to the Great Father for their 
guidance and whose only mother is Nature 
herself. Such a man was John the Baptist, and 
from the lessons of the desert he drew the 
thoughts from which his teachings were 
formed. He himself wanted nothing, there- 
fore he depended on no man for anything and 
this made him absolutely fearless. 

I think it is Elbert Hubbard who speaks of 
the Great Intelligence, and of its being attain- 
able to all men who put themselves in a posi- 
tion to receive knowledge. It is certain that, 
to the man who does not want to learn, no 
knowledge will come. Elbert Hubbard would 
make an ideal prophet. He wears the long 
hair and the simple dress, and he has the 
ability to see our faults and the wit to make 
his criticisms sink in like the sting of the 
bee. He is also able to gather his share of 
the locusts. But how about the wild honey? 
No one enjoys reading Elbert Hubbard's writ- 
ings more than I do and yet, I feel that there 



40 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

is something missing from them. I find the 
locusts and the bees, but the sweet honey of 
Christian kindliness, that delicacy that would 
not willingly wound a living soul, how about 
that? 

I cannot help but think that sometime El- 
bert will change a little in his ideas. It has 
always seemed to me as if something like the 
following conversation took place when Col. 
Ingersoll arrived at the Pearly Gates, for I have 
no doubt whatever that he did arrive there. 
"Robert, we are glad to see you. We know 
that you never meant any harm. We know 
that your great, big, honest heart, was right. 
It was all a mistake, wasn't it. Bob, my boy? 
Come in and have a chair." And when El- 
bert arrives I imagine there will be some- 
thing said like this, "Elbert, you did not 
expect a big reception like this, did you ? You 
did not think we were really here and glad to 
see you. Come in we want you. Take a 
chair just a little behind Bishop Goodkind, 
there. You have worked hard, Bert, and need 
a rest. Your heart is just a little behind your 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 41 

head in growth and we want you to give it a 
chance to catch up. No man has a finer in- 
tellect, or one more penetrating than you, but 
your heart, my son, must be coaxed up a little. 
Stay here for a thousand years, and then we 
want you to go out again, and then these 
little things that have troubled you vv^ill have 
disappeared, and you will have forgotten the 
small, mean things of life, and will only write 
about the good things, which alone are worthy 
of you. Sit down and rest awhile, Bert, and 
try again bye and bye." 

John the Baptist's words, two thousand 
years ago rang like a trumpet through Pales- 
tine and awoke the people from a hypnotic 
dream of sin and shame and using, as a means 
of impressing the fact of their repentence upon 
them forever, the baptism by immersion, he 
showed us all that a great shock to the physi- 
cal system is sometimes necessary to put us 
to rights spiritually. If necessary let us use 
the most effective way of teaching, let us work 
hard while the day lasts and get together as 
many measures of locusts as we may wish, 



42 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

but in all this may we never forget that Chris- 
tian gentleness, which in our dealings with 
others, adds so much to the wild honey of 
life. 



IX 



THE BLESSED SACRAMENT CHURCH. 

Do you know last Sunday I went back home 
to visit Mother Church. And Mother received 
me with a smile of welcome, just as she al- 
ways does. 

Though she grows older, She looses none of 
Her good looks, and Her beauty and sweet- 
ness and charm grow greater, if anything, as 
the years fly by. Though She has raised a 
large family of children, some of whom have 
repudiated Her, some of whom have been only 
on speaking terms with Her for a long, long 
time, yet Mother is just as forgiving and just 
as kind to them as She is to her obedient ones. 
Have they been naughty? If they confess. 
Mother overlooks their faults. Are they 
felons? She forgives and forgets and gives 
them a helping hand when they reform and 
take up anew the duties of life. Have they 

43 



44 . TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

taken human life? Yet She prays for them, 
and as She took part in their life, so She re- 
mains with them until death. And above all 
and through all She punishes not, but prays, 
leaving them to the tender mercies of a just 
God who alone knows the secrets of each 
human heart. 

And so when I attended worship at *'The 
Blessed Sacrament," I felt like a son who had 
taken advantage of a holiday to go back home 
to see his mother. The Church itself, with its 
delicacy of architecture and its spire ever 
pointing upward, stands like a beautiful wo- 
man dressed in white lace and jewels with her 
finger pointing toward heaven. The interior 
is not less beautiful than the exterior, the 
white marble altar representing the heart of 
a woman, pure and true, and the lighted 
tapers are emblematical of the fires of Love, 
eternally burning. For me, the church had no 
reproaches but only a charming smile, which 
seemed to say, "My son, never forget that, 
like your earthly mother who always wel- 
comed you, I stand waiting and hoping until 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 45 

death. Have you neglected me ? Come. Have 
you injured me? Come. Have you injured 
others? Come. Have you been untrue to 
yourself? Yet come. It is my part not to 
punish, but to pray." 

Dear Mother Church, who for a thousand 
years and m.ore, was the only Christian 
Church, and to which those old Crusaders, 
those Great Templars belonged. Those men 
vv^ho swore to protect the innocent, the desti- 
tute, the helpless, and the Christian religion. 
To such men a part of anything will not 
suffice. Whether of sweet or bitter, the cup 
must be drained to the dregs, and to such the 
Roman Catholic Church offers all there is of 
religion. To its followers, it is their all. To 
Her they bring all their joys and sorrows. 
She officiates over their birth, accompanies 
them through life and death, and prays for 
them after they have gone from Earth. And 
for this She asks only their complete trust; 
that they be humble and obedient. Years 
ago, on the morning I started for medical 
college, I was walking up Lexington avenue 



46 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

in New York City, when my attention was 
attracted by something on the sidewalk. I 
picked up the object and found it to be a 
girl's rosary which had been blessed at a 
Mission. I took it for a good omen and it has 
ever since been one of my most cherished pos- 
sessions. 

The Roman Catholic Church officially rec- 
ognizes women and first of all The Virgin, 
so it is pre-eminently the religion of the female 
sex. And are not all of our hopes founded 
upon women? Beginning at birth woman's 
hand is upon ours through life. In joy? She 
is there. In health? She is our companion. 
In sickness? It is her hand that smoothes 
our pillow and it is her loving fingers that 
close our eyelids when death allows us no 
longer to recognize her, and it is her heart that 
will ache the longest when we are gone. She 
was last at the Cross and last at the Tomb and 
she was the first to whom Jesus appeared after 
His Agony. And can we not trust her with 
the ballot? When we trust her with Life and 
Death, can she not help to steer our political 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 47 

bark? With her our safety lies, not with this 
or that political platform, these are as Shake- 
speare says, **But tales told by an idiot, full of 
sound and fury, signifying nothing." Trust 
her with the ballot? God bless her! Yes! 
or with my respect, my love, my life, and all 
honor to the Great Church that reveres and 
loves the memory of the sweetest of all 
women, "The Virgin Mary." 



X 

THE CHURCH OF ST. GABRIEL. 

Far, far away across the water, in a little 
country bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, 
a beautiful song was once heard. No matter 
how many songs have been sung there since, 
or how many will be heard there in the future, 
this particular one will echo down the halls 
of time as long as the Dawn of the morning 
shall sing to the Day. As long as the golden 
canary shall trill to the sun, as long as the 
nightingale shall pour out her love-song to 
the stars, so long shall the splendid strains 
of the Magnificat stir the hearts of men and 
of angels. And as long as the Magnificat 
endures, so long shall the name of Gabriel be 
associated with it, for it was his voice, and 
his tidings, that caused the beautiful maiden 
called Mary, to break forth into this glorious 
song of praise and exultation. 

49 



50 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

And this utterance from a full heart came 
not from one belonging to the favored classes, 
not from among those who possessed power 
and riches, not from among those who were 
well fed and well clothed, but it came from 
one whose place was among the lowly, the 
cold, and the hungry. Pride availed not, the 
rich were passed by, the ambitious were not 
noticed, and the mighty were put down that 
she, who feared the Lord and gave herself to 
Him in the innocence of her youth, might be 
exalted. And before such innocence, absolute 
innocence of mind and body, the deepest dyed 
criminal bows down in abject fear. There is 
something so overpowering in the look of 
true innocence and purity, that sin and dis- 
ease immediately recognize it and flee away 
in terror. 

"Deposuit potentes 
De sede, et exaltavit humiles." 

Yes, and He not only has put down, but is 
putting down, and shall put down, the mighty 
from their seat when they prove themselves 
unworthy, for the people, the lowly ones, who 




W 

o 

h 

o 

X 
u 

D 

u 

w 

h 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 51 

have stood abuse, and hunger, and cold, they 
are arising all over the land, and they shall 
continue to arise until the chains which have 
bound them shall be broken and they shall 
be free, physically and morally. And let each 
demagogue, each tyrant beware, lest when the 
people do arise, great shall be their fall. 
Where shall they hide when the people shall 
arise in their righteous wrath and take the 
things that have heretofore been denied them ? 
St. Gabriel's stands like a beautiful nun 
dressed in gray, demure and sweet, amid the 
green trees, a lasting remembrance of the 
bright angel of glad tidings. The interior is 
not only exceedingly beautiful, but cosey and 
homelike as well, and as I stand and watch 
the shadows of the colors in the stained glass 
windows play upon the floor, I know that 
here, at any rate, is to be found peace and 
quietness as well as innocence and purity. 
That here can be found that trustfulness in 
the loving care of the Virgin Mary that car- 
ries so many safely through the troubles and 
vexations of this life. And as I stand, as 



52 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

King Robert of Sicily stood (in that remark- 
able poem of Longfellow's) I, too, hear the 
priests chant the refrain, "He has exalted 
them of low degree." 

Here in this church of St. Gabriel's the rich 
and the poor shall mingle their prayers, and 
the mighty and the lowly shall pour out the 
praise of their hearts. Here may the shafts 
of the morning light first strike, and here may 
the golden rays of the setting sun longest 
linger, and when I die, may it be Gabriel, the 
Beloved, the patron of this Church, who shall 
come to me to tell me that the doors of Death 
are about to be opened to me, that I may take 
my place in that great choir whose chorus 
shall ever be, "My soul doth magnify the 
Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my 
Saviour." 



XI 



MASONIC TEMPLE. 

There is a great deal said and written about 
goats. There is no doubt that all goats are 
much slandered, from those that roam the 
wilds of Harlem, to those drawn by Mr. Pow- 
ers for the New York American, but the goats 
that have their home in the Masonic Temple, 
are the least understood by the public at 
large. 

We often hear the expression, "You get 
my goat," but this is not the real thing. In 
the Temple a great many do really get the 
goat, and although there are not as many 
there as imagination might cause the outside 
world to believe, still, there are a good many, 
so called, who meet their friends there in an 
abrupt manner. 

Now this subject of goats interests nearly 
everybody, for there is one night every two 

53 



54 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

weeks, anyway, that "father" does not work 
and that night he spends with the goat. 

The Masonic Temple shelters many so- 
cieties each of which has its own goat and 
although the goats are all fed on about the 
same principles, still, the way in which they 
expound those principles, is somewhat varied. 
These goats outsiders never get. The outsid- 
ers who become insiders, do get them, and 
they get them mostly on the outside. 

The impression they make on these outsid- 
ers outside makes a lasting impression on 
their insides. The insiders watch those who 
are becoming insiders get the goats on the 
outside, and it makes a joyous impression on 
their insides. Those who get them on the 
outside, can sometimes tell that they are about 
to get them before they can see them, and 
sometimes they cannot see them no matter 
how close they may be to them. So much for 
the goats. 

The Masonic Temple is a beautiful build- 
ing. There is an appearance of strength and 
solidity about it, and an air of wisdom and 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 55 

mystery hovers around it ; above all, however, 
it impresses the beholder with its look of 
secrecy. The main part of the edifice sets 
back, as it were, behind the massive columns 
in front, as if there was something it wished 
to conceal or protect from the gaze of a too 
inquisitive world. The building is in good 
company, too, for it is close to St. John's 
Church and to the Salem Baptist Church. It 
stands with them, so to speak, just as the so- 
cieties it shelters stand with and help to hold 
up, the Christian religion, for Masonry, at any 
rate, is Religion's handmaid. Within the 
walls of this Temple men of all races and all 
creeds, the President, the ex-President, and 
the College Professor, meet upon the level, 
act by the plumb and part upon the square. 
Here the great words Liberty, Equality, and 
Fraternity, have a real meaning. Here, as well 
as in the churches, we are taught the Father- 
hood of God and the Brotherhood of man. We 
are taught that Truth is about all, and that 
the soul of man is immortal. 

Be not afraid, women of New Rochelle, 



56 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

that when "father" goes to lodge he wastes 
his time, for it is as much for your good as 
his own, that he goes, and although there may 
be some things said and done there in lighter 
vein, these are only the by-products of the 
great objects of Fraternity. There, the mem- 
bers are taught Fortitude, that noble posses- 
sion of the soul, that great virtue which en- 
abled our ex-President to stand before an 
audience and finish his message to them while 
his life-blood ebbed away. And this is the 
one bright spot in an otherwise dark cloud 
of political turmoil and confusion. How de- 
lightful it is to enter a Temple such as ours, 
to leave the noisy and turbulent populace be- 
hind, and enter into the calm and quiet of the 
Sanctuary. And all the fuss and feathers of 
politics is so vain, too, for whether one or 
another is elected, Uncle Trusty will probably 
see that the price of pork and potatoes does 
not change materially. 

But brotherly love, relief and truth, which 
are taught here, are they not worth while? 
And while the cares of Church and State 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 57 

occupy many, we work, in the Temple, for the 
relief of the destitute and the welfare of the 
fatherless. There is no real war between 
secret societies and the Christian religion, for 
they are all founded upon the Holy Bible. 

Let us be proud of our Masonic Temple 
and may we know, that although it shelters 
many secret societies, the secrets are not 
secrets that will ever do one single human be- 
ing the least harm. 



XII 

AUTUMN IN HUDSON PARK. 

I sometimes go down to Hudson Park in 
the morning, when the sun shines bright in 
the blue sky, and just sit tight and drink in 
the sunshine, as it filters down through the 
clear autumn air. 

How beautiful it all is, and how quiet, for 
all the summer crowds have gone and only a 
few stragglers walk around over the rocks 
and sit upon the beach. Peace, "like to that 
which passeth all understanding," comes to 
me, and in imagination I feel Her hand on my 
shoulder, light and soft, like the hand of a 
tender maiden, and She whispers to me that 
"some time all the days will be like this." 
That anxiety and care, which now add to the 
unpleasant things of life, shall fade away, just 
as the morning mist fades from off Echo Bay, 
and that only love and sympathy will re- 
main. 

59 



60 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

That envy and jealousy shall be destroyed 
and only the faith and trust of childhood's 
hour, will be permanent. 

And the sunshine of His face shall flood 
the ether, just as the gold-dust of the sunshine 
sparkles in the morning air. 

When Time itself shall be no more and we 
may go here and there at will, or swing lazily 
at anchor, just as the boats anchored here in 
the harbor, swing to and fro with the tides. 

Hymns of praise shall spring unbidden to 
our lips for we shall, like the happy birds, 
burst involuntarily into song. It may be nec- 
essary for our future life that sorrow should 
tinge our earthly way with shadow, but There, 
it will be all unnecessary, and only joy will 
enter our existence. 

And so, as I sit and drink in the beauty of 
the scene, the blue of the sky and the water, 
and the white of the clouds and the boats, I 
watch the water creeping, slowly but surely 
creeping towards me as the tide comes in; 
each little ripple coming just a little bit fur- 
ther than the one before it. Just so the days 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 61 

of my life keep coming, coming, each one 
bringing nearer, just a little bit nearer, that 
other existence which I shall experience on 
the shores of Eternity. And so as I sit and 
dream with the white hand of Peace upon my 
shoulder, with the perfume of her presence, 
like the influence of a sweet and tender wo- 
man, around me, I know that there will be 
a future life. No amount of argument, no 
amount of unbelief in others could have a 
feather's weight with me against such a be- 
lief, for that is the one thing I am sure of. 
That we shall know each other there, that we 
shall be with those we love and with those who 
love us, and that all differences and doubts 
shall be done away with, of these things I am 
sure. So many proofs have come to me, dur- 
ing my life, of loving care and watchfulness 
that I know could not have come from anyone 
on earth, that I shall never doubt for the 
future. 

The old ideas of a heaven of gold and 
silver and of a hell of fire and brimstone 
are passing away. Like dark clouds they have 



62 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

obscured the real heaven, and as they roll 
away we find that heaven is a place where 
kindness and sympathy reign and the only 
hell there is, is the one we make by our mis- 
takes. And as I stand at the water's edge 
looking out toward that other shore, but 
faintly outlined in the distance but which I 
know to be there, my soul stands peering out 
over the vast spaces of the infinite to those 
other shores, also but faintly outlined yet 
surely there, while Peace in her dulcet tones 
whispers in my ear, "Let not your heart be 
troubled." "In my Father's house are many 
mansions ; if it were not so, I would have told 
you." 



XIII 

TRINITY CHURCH. 

Dear, peaceful, Old Trinity, with its stained- 
glass windows through which the sunlight 
lazily filters, and its old bell, stained by the 
fingers of time, and yet highly honored with 
a place just under the pulpit. 

Trinity, with its yard filled with the graves 
of the quiet dead, whose tombstones are also 
stained and weatherbeaten by time. Some are 
standing straight and some awry, showing us 
that they, like the sleepers below them, had 
hard work sometimes to keep upright. 
''Dearly beloved brethren, the scripture 
moveth us in sundry places." Dearly beloved 
brethren, both ye who are within the church 
and ye who are lying out there in the quiet 
churchyard (for they who have gone before 
can also hear the voice of love) the scripture 
moveth us. Yes, it moves us to gather here 

63 



64 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

in storm and in sunshine, in sorrow and in 
joy. Especially in sorrow, for "a, broken and 
contrite heart, oh God thou wilt not despise." 
Oh, in sorrow when the heart is torn with 
anguish, when earthly friends seem distant 
and even the brightest day seems dark, in sor- 
row to lay our troubles at the foot of the cross, 
is a priceless privilege. No one can comfort 
like the unseen, but ever present, Spirit of the 
Most High. Ever when we seek we find that 
"The Lord is in His Holy Temple," tremble, 
oh Earth, and "Keep silent before Him." A 
great peace, a profound calm shall come over 
the troubled spirit who kneels at the altar and 
confesses its "manifold sins and wickedness." 
Remember, "all ye who pass by" that "from 
the rising of the sun, even unto the going 
down of the same His name shall be great." 

If you can spare a few minutes from the 
hurry and confusion of Life to step into Old 
Trinity, do so and see how, in a few steps, you 
can pass from the busy mart of the city to the 
quiet and peace of the Temple where Time 
seems no longer to exist. 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 65 

Dear Old Trinity, just over the border line 
of one of the greatest cities of the world. Just 
over the line from a great deal of paganism, 
of greed, of heartlessness, and of crime. Just 
out of sight of the Great White Way, yet here 
we honor our ancestors, we revere the Con- 
stitution they gave us, we adore the beautiful, 
we believe in the true, in our churches we still 
worship, and here the pure in heart still see 
God. Here the prayer of the unhappy queen, 
''Oh, God, make others great, but keep me 
innocent," is still repeated, and here we still 
look for "the resurrection of the dead and the 
life of the World to come." 



XIV 

REVERIES AT THE BAY. 

A few days ago I took a small bundle of 
thoughts, tied them up with a pink ribbon, 
and went down to the edge of the bay to write. 
I looked around for a seat, but they had all 
been gathered in so that the snow and ice, 
which will be coming bye and bye;, could not 
harm them, so I looked around for the soft 
side of a rock which I soon found. 

When I had obtained a seat, I shook out 
my bundle of thoughts, but none of them 
seemed ready for use. I looked up to the trees 
and they were nearly bare of leaves, the rocks 
were bare and cold, the boats in the bay were 
mostly stripped of their outfits and even the 
men working about seemed rather bearish in 
their answers to a few questions I asked them. 
The bathhouse was bare, inside and outside, 
in fact the place was lonesome. I could hardly 

67 



68 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

bear it myself, and the ideas that I wanted 
would not come to me. 

I looked out upon the water, and it was 
streaked with blue and white ; it reminded me 
of the pork the son of Erin possessed. Some- 
one asked Pat how he managed to feed his 
pigs so that their meat would run that way 
so nicely, and he said, "He fed them one 
week a whole lot, and the next week he did 
not feed them at all." Well, the water looked 
streaked, and, so to speak, oily and greasy, 
rather hypocritical like. 

It is strange how deceitful the water can 
be, how innocent looking at times and yet if 
you trust yourself to it, it will finish your 
earthly journey very quick, and only take a 
couple of minutes to do the job. When you 
get in it, it clings to you and it seems to hold 
you back when you attempt to get out of it, 
as if it did not want to let you go. 

Ah, treacherous water, so beautiful, so 
alluring at times and yet ready to take your 
life the minute you relax your watchfulness. 
And when you stand and watch it when it is 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 69 

rough, it seems to jump at you in anger, like 
an ugly dog chained to a post, and it seems to 
rage and fume because it cannot quite reach 
you. And when you stand and look out over 
it at night when it is dark, a nameless horror 
seems to come up out of it and close around 
you, and you hurriedly seek again the lights 
and company you left. Not afraid, oh no, 
not at all, but somehow from out there in 
the deep the souls of those who have been 
lost there seem to be calling, calling to you, if 
not for you. 

But still, above all this, there is in me, any- 
way, that wild love of the sea, a love of the 
tempest, of the shrieking of the cordage in 
the wind, and of the crackling of the masts, 
and it fills me with an exultation that noth- 
ing else can do. Most of my maternal an- 
cestors were sea captains and loved to brave 
the storms at sea. I have heard my grand- 
father tell how he and his brothers would have 
to go out at night, when his father was ashore, 
and throw water against the side of the house 
so the old man could sleep. But to-day the 



70 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

water is quiet and smooth, and its streak of 
white and streak of blue also remind me of the 
days of life, some quiet and restful and inno- 
cent, and others stormy and perilous and 
fraught with danger. 

But if they were all alike how should we 
be aware of the good and the bad days? 
Would we not tire of the monotony, and is it 
not necessary for the making of good sea- 
men that they encounter storms and rocks in 
their course? 

So I sit and look out over the water and 
try to get together some ideas from my bundle 
of thoughts, but nothing much comes, so I 
roll them up again, tie them with a blue rib- 
bon, crank up and chug my way noisily home- 
ward. 

And then when I get home I begin to feel 
ashamed of the way I have slandered the sea 
and there comes to my mind the remembrance 
of the beauty of the water, and I think of the 
waves playing with each other and tossing 
their crests high in air, of the beautiful colors 
in the drops as they glisten in the sunlight and 




BONNEFOI POINT 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 71 

of the lifegiving perfume of the spray. How 
clean and free from all taint the sea is. There 
out on the deep, on its restless bosom, is sur- 
cease from worry and care, a place where pas- 
sions may be quenched and where the soul can 
commune with the great forces of nature and 
be restored to its pristine clearness and purity 
Where beauty may be worshipped, for every 
minute a new Venus is born at the top of the 
wave, and where, like tired children, we may 
go for rest and peace and have health and 
happiness restored to us as we are ''Rocked in 
the cradle of the Deep." 



XV 

MUSIC. 

Last Sunday I attended service at two 
churches. In the morning I heard the choir 
sing in the North Avenue Presbyterian 
Church, and in the evening I listened to the 
double quartet at the Salem Baptist Church, 
and believe me I heard some music. I gath- 
ered in so much of it, that I can't hold it all, 
and so I am going to spill a little of it, trans- 
formed into prose, out on to the unsuspecting 
public, for it is just possible that there is some 
one who did not attend church at all on Sun- 
day, and consequently did not hear any sacred 
music. 

It is a great privilege to be able to go to 
church. Among all peoples we find some form 
of religious worship, and a gathering of peo- 
ple anywhere, for that purpose, may be called 
a church, whether in some particular place, or 

73 



74 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

building, or whether out of doors with only 
the blue sky for a roof. There is a crying 
need in each human heart for a place in which 
to worship God, safe from interference, and 
safe from the curiosity of those who are not 
in sympathy. 

Of course God may be worshipped any- 
where and at any time, but it makes a deeper 
impressions on our minds and in much more 
satisfactory, when we worship in a place set 
apart especially for that purpose, than it does 
when we worship in any other place. 

The sermons we hear there, always edify 
and teach us, and not only teach us, but show 
us the way in which we ought to carry out 
those teachings, and of course they are the 
most important part of the service; neverthe- 
less, they do not always put us in touch with 
Divine things. The services laid down by the 
Church for us to follow are a great help, and 
are necessary for our complete satisfaction 
and the well-rounding out of the whole, but 
where is the church that, no matter how per- 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 75 

feet these portions of the service are, can get 
along without music. 

The regular church services are very dear 
to all, the sermons are very necessary and 
instructive, and of course they are the meat, 
so to speak, of the whole, but music, oh, 
music at once puts us in touch with the di- 
vine. 

It softens the hearts of all and draws the 
soul of each one upward, upward until it 
touches the great Oversoul of all things. It 
speaks to all nations, for it is the same in all 
languages. No race is so ignorant that some 
power of music is not understood among them, 
and no person is so hardened that music can- 
not soften his, or her, heart. It is the one 
thing held in common by all people, that 
tends to affect, ^n one way or another, the 
human soul. 

The sermon and the ceremonials correspond 
to the study hour, while the music corresponds 
to the play hour, or the hour of prayer, as the 
case may be. So among those who understand 
its loving tones there is, is there not, a closer 



n TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

fellowship, a finer sympathy, than among 
others? Are they not more sensitive than 
those who do not understand, and do they not 
respond to finer impressions than others do ? 

Music is almost the soul of sound, is it not, 
and may we not believe, that just as the choir 
in most churches is placed in the chancel near 
the minister, or priest, so will those who make 
up the great choir celestial be placed just a 
little bit nearer, "The great white throne" 
than the rest; just a little nearer Him whose 
face shall illumine the music they shall hold 
in their hands, and cause the notes they utter 
to swell into an anthem that shall be heard 
throughout the universe. 

Many times have I seen an expression on 
the faces, of singers, that I know would not 
be there if their souls were not raised above 
earthly things and in touch with "The great- 
est thing in the world," or out of it for that 
matter, "Unselfish Love," and I have seen 
in a great cathedral in New York City five 
thousand people kneeling, and in tears, while 
the beautiful voice of a singer, with tears in 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 11 

her heart, offered her soul to God through 
the medium of her voice. 

Music is inspiring, yes, and it may lift the 
human soul to great deeds of wisdom and pur- 
pose, but it seems sweetest to me when it 
comes quietly and gently, falling from the air 
just as the dew falls from heaven upon the 
flowers in the stillness of the starry night. 
When it comes as the words of mercy come to 
heal the wounded heart. When it comes as 
the tender voice of sympathy comes to the sor- 
rowing spirit, and when it falls upon the ear 
like a benediction after prayer. 



XVI 

GIFTS AT CHRISTMAS. 

Yes, the morning after the day before, the 
house may seem cold and cheerless and empty. 
Those who made merry, and were merry, the 
day before, may have gone, and only Mary 
may be up and around, perhaps, sweeping up 
the empty shells that found their way to the 
carpet. Shells that gave freely their all, to 
the Christmas feast, just as the home gave up 
its best to the merrymakers, and life has 
started to go on again just as before it had 
done. No, not just as before, for as we have 
made others happy, we have been made happy, 
or just as we have forgotten others, we may 
have been forgotten. If our hearts have been 
made to swell with generosity, or contract 
with greed, just so shall we be made better 
or worse for the season's deeds, and each 
Christmas tide makes us just a little bit more 
generous, or a little bit more miserly. 

79 



so TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

It is a beautiful custom to make merry on 
December 25th, to fill up the physical body 
with Turkey and Greece — I mean turkey and 
gravy, — for the turkey furnishes the fuel and 
the gravy oils the machinery and sets us 
going smoothly again; and a little wine, "for 
the stomach's sake," tends to set our wits 
a-sparkling and warms our blood, and gives 
us, temporarily at least, an added zest with 
which to enjoy the good things of life. It is 
a beautiful custom to hang up the mistletoe, 
even if the males of the party do not have the 
courage to honor the custom for which it is 
used, more's the pity, and if they can make 
Mary stand still under it long enough, and do 
have the courage, what can send the warm 
blood dancing through her veins like a red- 
hot kiss from Tom, or Jerry, or Tom-and- 
Jerry. And shall we not make Mary a present 
on Christmas Day ? 

There is a society being formed, in the 
great city next door, for the purpose of doing 
away with Christmas giving; they say, "with 
useless Christmas giving," but I am afraid it 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 81 

will result in no giving at all; its only an 
excuse. No one need give costly presents if 
they do not want to, but just a remembrance, 
just enough to show that there is a generous 
impulse in that dry old heart, can do no harm. 
Just to show to others that you do not belong 
to the Old Scrooge class. Just to show that 
one human heart treasures a kindly thought 
for somebody else. 

A generous thought really does expand the 
heart of the giver, and an added force sends 
the blood along its way. Whether the gift is 
thankfully received or not, has no bearing, 
whatever, on- the matter. It has done the 
giver good, and it relaxes the tense nervous 
system of the man of affairs and he laughs to 
himself to think what a surprise he has on 
the recipient. 

Just think of the empty little stockings 
hanging to the mantle, for there are many, 
many little ones whose hearts will beat 
heavily in their breasts, when they find that 
Santa Claus did not have time to call. Many 
motherless ones there are, who will look in 



82 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

vain for just one little present. Many father- 
less ones, who will never know what Christ- 
mas really means. Many lonesome ones, 
larger and older, who long for their sympathy 
of one thoughtful heart expressed in an in- 
expensive gift. Many who will look in vain 
for a remembrance from one they love, who 
has been too busy to remember, or who has 
joined a society, — God save the mark, — to do 
away with Christmas giving. 

Oh, may we all allow the kindly impulses 
of our hearts to break through the crusts that 
keep them in during the rest of the year, and 
give each friend some little token at Christ- 
mas, for I believe there is in each heart a 
tender spot in which will arise sympathetic 
thoughts of others, if we only give them a 
chance. Just as under the crust of ice and 
snow on the earth, the violets are beginning 
to whisper to each other of the warm and 
gentle Springtime that is coming later on, 
so the sympathy under the crust of one heart 
calls to that under the crusts of others, and 
if a generous impulse springs from one bosom, 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 83 

it shall call forth kindly impulses from others. 
There is a way to touch the hardest heart and 
a sympathetic word, or act, may break the 
crust of years, and even tears may rise to the 
eyes of those hearts which have been hardened 
by the sin and selfishness of a cold and un- 
feeling world. 

God pity those in whose breasts arise no 
generous impulses, no desire to give to others, 
but only a desire to receive, for there is more 
pleasure in giving than in receiving, after all. 
Then let us give something, at least to those 
we love, e'er warm, vivid life is over and the 
cold hand of death has gripped our hearts, or 
their hearts, in a tighter clasp than selfish- 
ness, and then, not the "ghost of Christmas 
present," but the ghosts of Christmas pres- 
ents, will come back to us in kindly words, or 
deeds, when we least expect it, from some 
lonely hearts that we have remembered to 
cherish. 



XVII 

JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN. 

Yes, the Play was exceptionally fine. 

The author and the actors, the stage-man- 
ager and the scene-painters, all conspired to 
extract from the audience the highest amount 
of praise, and it was generously given. Of 
course, as most of the' plays do, it brought 
out what purported to be, "great moral les- 
sons," but as I looked at the changing scenes, 
I saw that, after all, its great object was to 
bring out in its many varieties, human love. 
First, there was the mother love. The love of 
the mother for her first and only child, bone 
of her bone, flesh of her flesh, yes, and soul of 
her soul. 

Then came the love of the father for his 
child, a reflection of the great love which he 
had for the mother, and as he looks upon his 
boy he sees in him the image of the mother 
when she was young and beautiful. 

85 



86 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

Then appears the snake in this garden of 
Eden, envy. It has its seat in the hearts of 
the older brothers because of the partiality 
shown to the youngest and best loved child. 
Then comes the love of a strong souled pas- 
sionate woman, an overpowering desire for 
the love of youth and strength. But love can- 
not compel love, and this longing was destined 
to be unsatisfied. To what heights may warm, 
throbbing, human love, not carry us when it 
is rightly directed and rightly requited, and 
the children born of such unions, how great 
may they not become, aye, masters of men, 
head and shoulders above other mortals, for 
they are born with the strength and vigor of 
great human passions, through which we 
attain the divine. 

But when such love is unrequited, it may 
bring to the one who harbors it, as well as 
to the one who is its object, death; for jeal- 
ousy, that monster of the passions, may turn 
love to hate and hate to murder. Those who 
cherish it, may be consumed by it as by a 
scorching fire, and all those around them 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 87 

may be made unhappy. And to think that 
often the suspicious ones have no ground 
whatever for their thoughts, and that the 
victims may be entirely innocent. Then there 
was the tender love of the gentle maiden, 
who was willing to sacrifice herself that her 
lover might be made happy ; and this is the 
highest type of love, and the scarcest, and 
from such mothers come the great ones, not 
of the earth, but of heaven. Then came the 
love of the dainty maiden, who with gleam- 
ing limbs and twinkling toes, dances right into 
the hearts of the spectators ; just as a butterfly 
flits from flower to flower and sips a little 
honey here and a little there, and who joys in 
the sunshine of life, and who either knows 
not yet real love, or who hides under a cheer- 
ful manner, a breaking heart. 

Love makes its votaries suffer, be they 
high or low, rich or poor. Whether their love 
be pure or impure, mild or gentle, or wild and 
passionate. And they who have really loved, 
have entered into a kingdom, a kingdom, not 
of this world, which makes them different 



88 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

from other mortals, whether their love be re- 
quited or not. 

Whether love carries the worshippers up- 
ward or downward, whether it makes them 
free or confines them in a cage where they die 
beating their wings against the gilded bars, 
love makes a greater change in them than 
everything else in the world combined. We 
cannot tell, sometimes, until we try, whether 
affection in any one case will last, but we do 
know that it can last until Time shall be no 
more and the sands of the desert shall no more 
be whirled by the wind through trackless 
ether. 

Love does, sometimes, seem to make sport 
of its human plaything, and it is sometimes 
entirely out of our control. Though we may 
have some power over the details of life, Des- 
tiny shapes the beginning and the ending, and 
presides over the greater events, and from its 
mandates, there is no escape. There is no such 
thing as free human will, or free human choice, 
for the choice we make and the thing we do, 
is influenced by the hundreds and thousands 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 89 

of years through which we have passed as a 
family, or as a nation, or as a race; and our 
environment and our studies, also, help to 
mold our minds. 

And then comes the last act of the Play, 
and here we see the fraternal love which has 
at last displaced envy and jealousy. And 
Joseph tells his brethren that it was not their 
doings, at all, which caused these things to 
come to pass, but it was God working through 
them all for the accomplishment of great 
works. And it was God, also, who made 
Potiphar's wife as well as the brethren of 
Joseph. But the Play is ended, the curtain is 
down and we go out into the business of life, 
where the men and women are only actors 
upon a larger stage and in a more fateful 
play. 



XVIII 

YOUTH AND BEAUTY. 

If you look close enough, you may find my 
text in the first verse, of the first chapter, of 
the book accorded to Pharaoh, ''Never lose 
an opportunity to see anything beautiful, for 
beauty is God's handwriting." So when I 
received an invitation to attend a classical 
dance matinee, I accepted it with great joy, 
and if you will bear with me awhile, I will 
take the opportunity to bring before you 
some thoughts respecting youth and beauty 
and grace, which were so charmingly brought 
to my attention by the dancing of Violet 
Romer, whose name really should have been 
Rose, for that flower is much more typical of 
her. 

There is nothing so much regretted, by the 
older ones among us, as the loss of our youth, 
and as the loss of youth with most people 



91 



92 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

means the loss of a certain amount of beauty, 
the loss of youth is doubly crushing. We are 
all deeply impressed by youth and beauty 
when we see them in others, and their power 
over all kinds and classes of men and women 
is absolute and irresistible; so as I sat and 
viewed the charming gyrations of the dainty 
dancer, I wished even as you might have 
wished, to be once more, young and beautiful 
and graceful. We speak of the beauty of 
music and the beauty of motion just as we 
speak of a beautiful landscape, a beautiful 
sunset, a beautiful picture, a beautiful statue, 
or a beautiful woman; so we see that beauty 
is not confined to any especial person or thing. 
It may be in something pleasing to the eye, 
or to the ear, or to any of the other senses, 
and not to the senses wholly but also to that 
other, that mysterious part of us, who sits 
within our minds in awful sovereignty. So in 
this accomplishment of dancing the beauty 
in the music, which ordinarily is only under- 
stood by means of the ear, is made plain to 
the sight, also, and the joyousness of the 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 93 

Valse, the yearning wistfulness of the An- 
dante, and the mischievousness of the Hama- 
dryad, becomes plain to all. 

It is seldom, however, that any particular 
person or thing is beautiful in all its parts. 
There is nearly always some part, or parts, 
not as perfect as the rest. Artists tell me that 
often a number of women must serve as mod- 
els during the painting of one female figure, 
as one will be perfect in one part and another 
in another part, and so on. It does seem as 
if we were not to reach absolute perfection in 
anything, on this earth. I know that there 
have been painters who have taken years to 
imitate the beauty of one human form, and 
there have been sculptors who have taken 
a lifetime to release from a rough block of 
marble, one almost perfect figure, and in this 
work of dancing, it takes a long, long time, 
to make fit, the one who becomes accom- 
plished in it. To be successsful in its highest 
meaning, a person must first love the work in 
which they are engaged, and if we notice 
closely we shall find that the highest types of 



94 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

the artist's labors have been brought forth 
when there was present love for the model as 
well as for the work, for only love can see all 
the beauties that are present; for love can 
draw out, as nothing else can do, the beauties 
of form and feature. Only the lover sees in 
his mistress all of the charms which nature 
sometimes seems to try to hide lest their 
beauty may be too overpowering for unaccus- 
tomed eyes to behold, or unsympathetic spir- 
its to know. 

And in women beauty reaches her height. 
The waving cypress may be beautiful, but 
woman's silky hair puts the cypress to shame. 
The blue of the ocean is deep, but deeper far 
and yet more blue, is the color in those twin 
lakes through which her spirit looks out upon 
us, for the distance from which it looks, is 
Eternity. The petals of the rose are soft and 
delicate; but softer far and yet more sensi- 
tive are her lips in their dewy freshness, and 
the perfume of her presence is greater than 
the scent of attar of roses. 

And so as I watched the dancer with the 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 95 

rose, I thought of old Omar and how he said, 
"And then came Spring and rose in hand. 
My threadbare penitence apiece tore." 
Penitence, yes, but not penitence for loving 
either the rose or the one who bore it, for he 
knew that God made both. Much too long 
indeed have we been kept under the dark 
cloud of cant. Much too long have we been 
taught that the human body was shameful and 
sinful and that to save the soul we must keep 
out of sight the body, which was made by 
God, as well as the soul. It is important that 
the body should be well taken care of and 
kept clean and pure, for it is the home, for the 
time being, of the soul, and a soul cannot be 
healthy in an unhealthy body any more than 
a mind can be kept pure in an impure body. 
God made both and knew when He made 
them the needs and desires of both. Yes, we 
have been taught by hypocrites and mummies 
to be ashamed of our bodies, but God be 
thanked we are coming into a new era, in 
which, along with votes for women and jus- 
tice for children, we shall be allowed to study, 



96 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

without reproach, the beautiful, for the beau- 
tiful is the good. 

And after all no body can be beautiful 
without a beautiful soul in it, and Beauty, 
or perfection, for they are the same, compels 
us to worship, and not with selfishness, but 
with awe and reverence. 

If the dear people who are calling just at 
present so loudly for eugenics, would only 
stop to think, they would know that the surest 
way of making a race stronger and more 
beautiful is to show to its future fathers and 
mothers the most beautiful pictures and the 
most perfect statues we possess, and, yes, the 
most perfect human bodies we know of, and 
keep out of sight the ugly and the deformed 
and the vile, for they, having become ac- 
quainted with these forms which are as near 
perfect as we can expect on this earth, will 
never waste a second glance upon the dis- 
torted or imperfect. The best way to do, is 
to do away with all imperfections, to not talk 
about, or look at, or listen to them. Some- 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 97 

time we hope to attain absolute perfection 
somewhere. And that word "hope." 

In her beautiful dance of Pandora, the 
dancer found Hope at the bottom of the box, 
and so may we if all else fails yet be buoyed 
up by Hope. And may we know that through 
the worship of beautiful bodies, we are 
brought to the worship of beautiful souls, and 
that beautiful bodies and beautiful souls are, 
after all, only those which are perfect, and 
that the perfect is the good. 



XIX 

EASTER THOUGHTS. 

Easter, as we call it, has again come and 
gone, but still, the perfume of its flowers and 
the incense that we offered, haunts us. Christ 
has again arisen amid songs of praise and 
tears of joy, and we have had a glimpse, just 
a glimpse of that fairer world to which He 
went. We have had a breath of that purer 
air, wafted to us from the other side of those 
gates of Death, which, for an instant, were 
opened to let Him through. We have had 
just a fleeting impression of those beauties 
which "no mortal man can look upon and 
live." Of course, we all believe that Christ 
arose from the dead, and we all believe that 
we, too, shall arise from the dead as He did. 
For are we not all children of the selfsame 
God, and have we not also trod, in pain, the 
paths He followed? 

99 



100 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

It is fitting, then, that at Easter time we 
should look forward to another home be- 
yond. Beyond that "valley of the shadow,'* 
and it is proper that we offer up, as incense, 
the best thoughts we have in us, and the most 
beautiful music we know. Just as the flow- 
ers offer up to Him who gave them their 
dress, their sweetest perfume, and bare to Him 
their souls of spotless white. We can do no 
less than the flowers; and we should try to 
restore our souls as near as possible to their 
pristine purity, and clear them of all evil. 
Should we not take this time to open the 
doors of our hearts just a little bit, at any 
rate, to our friends, that they may catch just 
a glimpse, just a breath, to show them that 
we really, in our inmost thoughts, do love and 
cherish them? 

Yes, as we praise Him who, in His good- 
ness, cares for us, let us bare to Him our in- 
most thoughts and desires, and thank Him 
who drank for us the bitter cup, that we 
might do for each other that which He did 
for us. Let us, therefore, send greetings to 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 101 

those we love, and show them just enough of 
our hearts to convince them that we are sin- 
cere, and mean to be kind and sympathetic. 
And we shall find that there will be an answer 
from each one to whom we send a greeting. 

Just a hand clasp, or a word, may show to 
another that we are sympathetic and drive out 
from his mind all uncertainty and doubt. And 
when the curtains are again drawn the thought 
remains, that there is one friend, at least, who 
cares. We are all sensitive and in our hearts 
we hide many little graves of dead hopes, of 
bitter disappointments and of cherished things 
we have loved, and which only the resurrec- 
tion of love can bring back to us. 

And so, at this Eastertime, as we celebrate 
again the ascension of Christ in all its beauty, 
let us take a fresh hold upon our old belief 
in Him and in ourselves. As He rose and is 
awaiting, in a fairer clime, those who love 
Him ; as He awaits those who suffer and who 
die, let us remember that only those who have 
suffered can really sympathize, can really be 
kind. Let us purify our souls to make them 



102 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

fit places for truth and sincerity to dwell, 
remembering that the soul, only, goes beyond, 
that the body remains as the worn and use- 
less husk which returns to the earth as it 
was. 



XX 

TOM PAINE. 

So you want to see the Tom Paine house? 
Well, come with me and I will show it to you. 
You see it stands in a beautiful spot at the 
foot of a hill, close to a little lake, which 
nestles in the hollow surrounded by hills, like 
a diamond mirror in an emerald frame. 

It is an old weather beaten cottage with old- 
fashioned shutters. Close by it, stands the 
old schoolhouse, where children of a by-gone 
age were taught to read, write and spell. 

Let us enter the old house. On every side 
we see evidences of times long past, and a 
peculiar awe steals over us, as if we were in 
the presence of the unknown. Here is a cane 
General Jackson used to carry. It is large and 
heavy, knotted and gnarled; in fact it is just 
as typical of him as is this other one of the 
man who carried it. This other one is straight 

103 



104 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

and slender. It has an ivory top, in fact it 
looks as if it had belonged to a gentleman; 
it has belonged to a gentleman ; it is the cane 
Henry Clay owned. There, are a lot of old 
coins and some old Indian relics, and the fur- 
niture is old-fashioned and so are the carpets. 

Sh! I thought I heard a footfall in the 
next room! 

Let's look and see who is there. Why, 
there's no one! This is the sittingroom. 
What are you jumping at? Are you afraid? 
Its nothing but the creaking of the floor; 
floors always do that in an old house. (I'll 
swear I saw that rocking chair move.) Now 
let's go up the stairs. How narrow and steep 
they are. What did you say ? You didn't say 
anything? I thought you spoke. What queer 
little rooms, and what a funny old bedstead 
that is. I do believe there is somebody in 
this house. I certainly hear someone talking. 
Don't hold my hand so tight. Yes, I'm get- 
ting nervous myself. Open that door, gently 
now; yes, there is a man there. Hush! he is 
talking ! 



IN NEW ROCHELLE 105 

"When it shall be said in any country, *My 
poor are happy; neither ignorance nor dis- 
tress is to be found among them; my jails 
are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars ; 
the aged are not in want, the taxes are not 
oppressive; the rational world is my friend 
because I am a friend of its happiness/ When 
these things can be said, then may that coun- 
try boast of its constitution and its govern- 
ment." 

Why, that's Mr. Paine himself. Don't dis- 
turb him, but let us go quietly down stairs 
and he will not know that we heard him. And 
then when we get out of doors again the spell 
is broken, and we know that we are living in 
the 20th century, and that what we thought 
was Thomas Paine, was only a waxen image ; 
and that the lips that gave utterance to the 
immortal thoughts just quoted, have been cold 
in death for a hundred years; and that even 
the place in which they repose is unknown. 
The soul of Thomas Paine was swept by tur- 
bulent passions. Faults? Of course, who 
does not have them, but his did him more harm 



106 TODAY AND YESTERDAY 

than they did any one else. To-day his in- 
tellectual greatness is alone remembered, his 
faults have been forgotten. Philosophy did 
much for Thomas Paine as it did for Thomas 
Jefferson ; but it did not go far enough. The 
solace of philosophy is insufficient. Only a 
belief in the teachings of Christ can enable a 
man to "drink that darker drink" and lie 
down upon his couch in peace, to die. 



JUH 2& I'^^S 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 224 180 8 # 



